Steel Ultimatum
by vegaswoman2012
Summary: Piotr Rasputin is the newest member of the X-Men, but he doesn't feel like he's at home, but his friends help him understand that sometimes it takes time to get used to a new place.
1. Chapter 1

Steel Ultimatum:

An X-Men Fan Fiction

Chapter 1: A Place to Call Home

"Okay, why don't you explain it to me again?" The young man asked. His thick accent made it very hard to understand exactly what he said.

"You are being asked to join an organization that helps mutants understand their abilities and control them." A short, hairy man, with a raspy voice replied, it's the first thing that he'd said since they'd met. From the tone in his voice one could tell he was tired of hearing the explanation repeated over and over. It had only been two hours since they'd met, and taught the boy a small bit of English. Considering that, Piotr was very proud that he could even have conversations with the Americans.

"This is... illegal though?" Piotr replied, trying to find the right words. The short man huffed and ignored the question, the red-haired girl standing next to Piotr decided to answer his question.

"Well, sorta. We're going to take you to be legalized, but you'll have to take a test, so yes you will be kept in the United States illegally for a few months while you prepare." She said, but her explanation only furthered his confusion. He decided to remain quiet for a while, doing so allowed him to look around the jet.

The dark interior was fantastic, it was very comfortable, at least for a man of normal size, considering this young man (not older than 18 years old) was not of normal stature. Being six and a half feet tall and weighing well over three hundred pounds was in no way considered normal. While looking around the cabin, he also noticed the different people in the jet. It was amazing to think these people could live together.

He was told that he was the last person on their trip to recruit new mutants, so everyone in the cabin had already been in the team for some time. He saw two men with blue skin; actually it looked more like fur than skin. The shorter, bulkier one was driving the jet. He had the appearance of an ape almost. He was talking to the other blue man, who was sitting next to him, from that Piotr guessed he was the co-pilot. The second man didn't actually sit normally in the chair, he was more-or-less sitting on his feet.

He looked to his left, the red-haired girl he'd mentioned before was cuddling a tall, slim man with a visor, he also noticed the short man staring at them, with a combination of jealousy and longing. He could tell easily that the man just wanted the girl. She was far too young for him though, and Piotr had a strange feeling against that kind of love.

Jean was the girl's name; she was tall, but not too tall, and thin. Her red hair was pixie cut; it fit her face perfectly, and almost made her seem younger than she was. Really she was 19, Piotr was actually the youngest person aboard the jet, not that he knew this, he figured Jean and her boyfriend, Scott, were younger than him.

Piotr brushed his fingers through his too-short hair. He continued looking at people, memorizing their features. As an artist this wasn't a hard task to accomplish. He took a long look at Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops. He was tall and thin, but still well-built enough to be a good fighter, even without his powers, though Piotr didn't know what they were, he didn't even know his name. His hair was a brown-red color, and his eyes were hidden by the visor he had yet to take off. He was in love with Jean, it was obvious, but so was the gruff man in the corner, but Piotr didn't dare look at him for too long.

He took another look around the cabin, he only saw two other people, a dark, beautiful woman, who's silver hair seemed to shine, of course she was with someone, but he didn't know this, nor did it really matter, he wasn't interested. She was so slender, her lines were beautiful. Her eyes were icy blue, and they seemed to draw people in. She had long hair, it stopped a few centimeters short of her bottom, but he didn't pay any attention to those features. Next to her was a bald man sitting in an energy-powered wheelchair. Its shape seemed so odd to Piotr, but he knew the man the instant he saw him.

It was Professor Charles Xavier, the man who personally asked Piotr to join the group, what was it? The X-Men? Piotr hadn't really thought how odd the name was, at the moment he was trying to see this man, but there really wasn't much to see. The yellow wheel-chair was almost like a coffin, he sat inside of it, instead of on it. Piotr looked toward the window; he wanted to see his land once more before they left.

Outside of his window was roaring hills and farmland. Most of which he'd never seen before now, as a matter of fact, it was very rare for him to leave his own land, unless directly told to do so. As a farmer he never had free time, if he did he was painting, or in town buying the supplies to do so. Anytime the family went into town they had to buy in bulk, due to the long trip. Living in a mildly unpopulated area has is disadvantages, more so than one would think.

By this point in the trip he was uncomfortable in the too-small chair, he decided to stand up and walk around for a while. Considering the shy nature of the gentle giant, he felt odd doing so. Soon the tall, dark, white-haired woman approached him. She held out her hand, he gently took it in his and shook. He knew he had to be careful, since the age of about twelve he's had problems controlling his strength; his growing size never seemed to stop either. Every few months, he'd outgrown many of his clothes, either height-wise or due to his gaining muscle, which most thought was a direct correlation to his working so hard on his family farm.

"Hello, my name is Ororo Munroe, but here I'm Storm." The woman said, she had no accent, but her voice was strangely calming. He nodded.

"My name is Piotr." The boy replied. She smiled, she thought his accent was cute, but of course she couldn't possibly begin to fall for him. She'd been a member of the X-Men for almost eight months, and during that time she'd began a relationship with Hank. Hank of course, was the blue man flying the Blackbird. No one really understood why she'd chosen him, but they didn't have to. She liked Hank, he was kind to her.

The X-Men were all adults, considering one of their youngest members right now was standing an entire six inches above her. He was young, and cute. His hair was cut almost as if he'd been a member of the army before, it wouldn't surprise her, but she could tell by his gentle composure that he hadn't. His eyes were sky blue; they were easy to see, even from far away. She talked to him for a while; he was hard to understand, with his vocabulary being so limited at the time. This time next month he would probably know how to hold his own in a conversation. If she had learned anything about her new teammate while talking for this short time, it was that he is far too naive to actually be an X-Man.

She left him behind and decided to talk to her boyfriend, of only two months, flying the jet. She stood next to him, he was dark blue and his body was covered in fur, but he was, by far, the smartest man she'd ever met, and having lived on the streets her entire life, she'd encountered some pretty smart men.

She grew up in Africa. She lived on the street for most of her life, until she was found by Charles. He'd saved her life, but that was a story for another time, right now they were leaving Russia, and it was getting late. Hank switched the Blackbird to auto-pilot, and entered the coordinates to the X-Mansion. That was their home. Waiting for them were the very young students, they weren't able to control their powers at all, and not allowed to go on field missions. They were Bobby Drake, Jono Starsmore, Paige Gutherie, Sam Gutherie, and Kitty Pryde.

Ororo and Hank decided to share a bed, seeing as Piotr was far too big to share with anyone. Logan had his own place to sleep, Jean and Scott shared, the Professor was alone, and Kurt slept on a small sofa. The only issue that surfaced sleeping with Hank was that he snored. Ororo didn't get much sleep, and apparently Piotr was having trouble himself. When Ororo got up to get some water, Piotr was sitting in the empty cabin. He seemed like he was upset.

Ororo walked to the looming, extremely large boy sitting in a seat that was obviously too small for him.

"Can't sleep huh?" Her voice startled him; he jumped, and looked up at her. After realizing who it was he calmed down and nodded. She sat down next to him; she'd been told before that she would make a wonderful mother. She was calming; she could easily calm anyone down with her words. "Well, tell me what's wrong?" She asked. She knew this might be a long conversation, with his limited vocabulary.

"I just... It's my first night away from home." He said, pausing briefly to find his words. She understood. That's how she felt her first time away from home, eventually she came to think of the mansion as home. Now she can do anything without being persecuted. Well maybe not anything.

"It takes some time, but maybe you'll come to think of our home, as your home." She said, smiling at the boy, his face didn't change, apparently it hadn't helped. She thought for a minute, and figured the perfect thing to say. "In America they say that 'home is where the heart is.'" She said. She was proud of herself, because she was positive that he'd never heard that saying before.

"Too bad I left my heart in Russia." His words stung. They stabbed her in the chest and hurt her. She didn't know how to reply, and felt defeated. She thought for a few minutes, but she couldn't find anything to say.

"Piotr, maybe someday, your heart will find its way here. Look I can't help you stop missing your family, but I can say I know how it feels when someone takes you away from a place you love to live in. The Professor brought me to the mansion, and at first it hurt, it felt like I was missing some piece of me, but then I realized that the mansion was my new home, and I finally had a family. Maybe soon you'll come to find the mansion as a home, instead of a prison, but let's just give it some time." She stopped, realizing that she may have over done it, considering he's new to the English language. She feared looking at his face, but when she did he was actually smiling.

"Thank you, Ororo. I... um." He let out a soft, airy chuckle, after realizing he didn't have a word to express how he felt.

"No problem, Piotr. If you ever need anything I'll be there okay. We should be at the mansion tomorrow, so try and get some sleep, Logan's gonna start your training as soon as we get home." She finished, as she got up and went back to the room, she realized that she'd never even gotten her water, but she didn't mind. She'd fallen asleep not-too-soon after, rather easily.

When she woke up the next morning, Hank wasn't in the bed, he must be flying already. She got up and left the room, she was still in her pajamas, but it was pretty dark last night, Piotr must not have noticed that she was wearing a white t-shirt she'd stolen from Hank; she only figured this because as soon as he saw her, his face turned bright red, and he looked away. Hank and Kurt were already in the front, they were having a nice conversation, about what, Ororo could only imagine.

Ororo took a look around, noticing that most of the members were still in their pajamas, Kurt and Piotr were the only exemptions. Jean was in her bra and panties, making coffee; she asked Piotr if he wanted any, to which he replied with a slight shake of the head. Ororo walked to the front, and tried to talk to Hank, but he was engrossed in whatever it was that he and Kurt were talking about.

"Whatever is was" was actually something Hank and Kurt seemed to discuss often, Christianity. They both believed in it, though Kurt's beliefs were much stronger than Hank's. Not-too-soon after, Jean called for breakfast; Hank switched the machine to auto-pilot and followed Kurt to the small table. Hank personally had the Blackbird equipped with beds, toilets, showers, and a small kitchen area. They sometimes had long trips, like this one. The jet was fast, but sometimes they didn't have to rush, this usually resulted in trips that they would cruise on.

Hank sat next to Ororo, as anyone would have guessed. He had a strong feeling when he was around her, mostly one of "who would really date a freak like me" but sometimes it was good, like love maybe. He noticed that Wolverine was by himself again, but no one found that odd at all. Scott and Jean were next to each other and the Professor was in his wheelchair, as if he had a choice though. Piotr wasn't coming to the table, seeing as the women were all half-naked. Most of the other men didn't mind it though; actually they enjoyed it, maybe too much sometimes.

Hank looked at his hands, as he often did. They weren't always blue, but they've always been abnormally large. He was born that way, but at this point he didn't care anymore. When he first joined the X-Men he still looked slightly normal, but one dose of the wrong thing and _this _happens. "This" of course, was his extra mutation, after a few years it would've happened anyway, he only sped the process up.

Everyone seemed to be beckoning the new young man to come sit with them, Hank knew that wouldn't happen, but they continued to try.

"You could try putting clothes on." Hank stated, trying to make it seem obvious. Ororo did just that, she slipped a pair of pants on and stood in front of Piotr.

"Jean, put some clothes on before this kid either starves, or explodes." She said. Piotr's head jolted up, taking her very seriously. Hank laughed at his naivety. Ororo smiled, and began to try and explain sarcasm to the young boy, but it only confused him.

"Hank, perhaps we should get back to flying the jet." Kurt said, his accent slightly coating his words, though he was easier to understand than Piotr, it was still hard to make out his words sometimes. Hank followed his orders and they both sat back in their seats and began having a conversation no one else seemed to care about.

Charles wheeled himself toward Piotr. He didn't say anything as he did so, but that was because Ororo was still talking to him during that time. To most people Piotr is tall, but to Charles he was monstrous.

"Piotr, I think you should take this time to eat something, afterwards I'd like you to find me. I'll be in the back." He wheeled around and went back toward the rooms. Piotr watched carefully as he left.

Piotr stood up and followed Charles to the rooms, he decided he wasn't hungry. The Professor, as most people call him, knew he was there, so it didn't startle him. He stopped in the room and told Piotr that the process may be slightly painful, and that he shouldn't worry about it.

"Okay." Piotr said, almost as if he were asking. He was confused but he sat down, as he was instructed to do.

"I'm going to teach you English in the easiest way I can. Don't worry, I'm not trying to hurt you, but again, I'll warn you, it may hurt a great deal." The Professor stopped there and put his hands on Piotr's temple. He was right it did hurt; afterward he just laid down and tried to sleep, though he found this impossible, due to the monster headache he'd suffered.

"Po krayney mere, ya mogu ponyat' ikh seychas.*" He thought, keeping his eyes closed and trying to block out any noises. He found the engine excruciatingly loud, it hadn't seemed that way before, but he figured it was a result of his previous encounter.

He continued to try to sleep, but, with the combination of home-sickness and head-pain, there was no way that was going to happen. The door opened, but he didn't open his eyes, the sound hurt enough as it was. It was Jean, he could tell because of her voice. It hurt so much more than he thought it would.

"Piotr are you okay? We're landing soon, so you need to get up." She said, but it was almost as if she wasn't actually speaking to him. He made the mistake of opening his eyes, the light hurt, but he didn't really show it. He stood up, the pain worsened, but he tried his hardest to ignore it, he became light headed, but he ignored that too.

He followed Jean to the cabin, the Professor smiled at him. He didn't know what to think about that.

"I understand that Ororo told you that you'd begin training as soon as you were home, but I figure her and Logan weren't anticipating that I'd try and teach you English first." He said, Piotr was still confused, considering he was so concentrated on the way his head felt at the moment.

"I'm going to allow you to skip today and tomorrow. The pain should stop by Thursday, and we'll begin then. I want you to come to my office before Jean shows you to your room. I have some business to attend to and a gift for you." The Professor said. Piotr took a moment to take all of that in, just because he knew English didn't mean that he didn't have to think about it in Russian first.

Piotr nodded and followed the Professor to the front door of the mansion. It was a beautiful building; he'd love to paint it.

"Too bad you had to leave all your supplies behind." The Professor said, Piotr looked down at him, he didn't think that he was reading his mind.

"Welcome to your new home Piotr. I hope you like it here. If you'll follow me, I'll show you to my office." The Professor stated. He wheeled through a lightly populated area. Moaning rang out, particularly from a young man with blond-brown hair. They must have realized that their classes would be resumed since the Professor had returned. There was a gloomy looking young man in a corner watching him with his bright red eyes.

They entered the office; Piotr took a seat in one of the two soft, white chairs. He almost didn't fit, the room was so white that it reminded Piotr that his head was hurting, though it was hurting the entire time; some of the events took his mind off of it.

"I want to decide on a teacher for you. Hank and I are the only real teachers, and Logan teaches training and physical education courses. I think that Hank would best suit your needs, he can speak Russian you see." The Professor said, getting straight to business. Piotr looked up at the last part of what he'd just said. He was surprised.

"Da.** I agree." He said, switching from Russian to English. He smiled, he felt like he might be able to bring some of his home to this place, so far away.

After talking with the Professor, Jean escorted Piotr to his room. He opened the door, mostly to find a box, wrapped up, lying on his bed. He looked at it for a moment.

"Go on, it's yours, from all of us. We want you to feel a little more at home, so we all pitched in and bought it for you." Jean said, smiling. Piotr opened the box, inside was a package of canvases (probably around five), an easel, some brushes, and paints.

"Spasibo.***" Piotr said, though realizing that she may not understand him, she knew what he meant. He smiled and nodded. "It worked, I feel much more at home."

*Po krayney mere, ya mogu ponyat' ikh seychas: At least I can understand them now.

**Da: Yes

***Spasibo: Thank You

Notes: I figured since he's Russian, he probably doesn't think in English, so while I wrote this I decided to make a place setter so that I could figure out what it was in Russian. This may not be completely accurate, since I used Google translate.

Copyright notes: This belongs to Marvel, all the characters, names, places, etc. They are not mine. Thank you! :D

I hope ya'll like it; this only took about an hour to write over all. Well, here ya go. Chapter 2 is currently in progress.

****Preview****

Training is in Session:

Piotr has his first training session with Logan; it's been two days since he joined the group. He also has to go to the high school and set up his schedule. Hank accompanies him, and they have some issues with the amount of credits, as well as some of the courses, so now he has to take night and weekend classes at the mansion as well. He's also becoming friends with some of the students, though he is still extremely shy. Perspectives to look for: Peter's (obviously), Logan's, and Kitty's.

If you have any ideas about future chapters, or characters whose perspectives you'd like to see (of course they do have to relate slightly to Peter, and I'm planning on adding Rogue, Gambit, and some other characters, and their perspectives too: D) just send me a message or comment. :D Oh and if you have any questions, like who certain characters are or other things, just ask, I'll be happy to answer. Thanks for reading, hope you liked it!


	2. Chapter 2

Steel Ultimatum

An X-Men Fan Fiction:

Chapter 2: Training is in Session

He woke up, the only pain left from the Professor's English "lesson" was a small soreness in the back of his head. He looked around his room, the canvas he was given as a homecoming gift sat a short distance from the foot of his bed. He kept his supplies in the top drawer on the left side of his dresser. On his canvas was the sketch of a future painting. There was a small farm house, crops, workers, in the front was a little girl, crying next to a crushed tractor.

Most people that saw the picture wouldn't quite understand it. The girl in the picture, his sister, missed him, he knew it. The tractor was the reason he'd used his powers for the first time, it "unlocked his potential" as the Professor put it. If he hadn't been there Illyana would be dead, if he hadn't been a mutant, or at least if his powers had remained dormant, he would be dead.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes. Today he had to train with Logan, he'd learned, from Hank that Logan was rough, but he's the best at what he does. Of course Piotr was worried, he had been told that there was a high death risk, but he hadn't come to America to die on the second day there. He would be fine, if only by sheer will, he _had_ to be fine, for Illyana's sake.

He finally got the energy to get out of the bed. He stepped to the small closet and opened it. Inside there were a few shirts, all with the same design: black, short-sleeved with a red "x" in the upper left part of the torso, the back had "Class of 2013" written in yellow letters. The right sleeve had "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters" in small, white, hard-to-read script. He pulled one of the shirts out and looked at it, measuring it with his eyes. He gently set it against his torso, as if he were comparing the size to his own body. It was a large shirt; it looked like it would fit him.

He pulled on the shirt, it was tight, but so were most of his clothes. The sleeves were short enough to show the "farming scars" on his arms. He picked through the drawers, finding some black pants, he also found a yellow belt with a black and red "x" logo as a buckle. He appreciated the clothes they'd given him, but they weren't his style. He was okay with tight fitting tee shirts but he wasn't so into all the black. To him black was a depressing color, and if it meant anything, he didn't like depressing.

He put the pants on and looked to the corner of the room, on the left side of the door. His shoes would be there in a neat row, if he'd had more than two pairs. They'd given him the black, high top combat boots, but preferred his hiking boots. He slipped them on and stood to leave. He was going to meet Hank in the lounging areas on the second story, but as he walked toward the door he heard a stern knock.

He opened the door to find Hank standing in front of him, his fur was smoothed rather nicely, except for the two patches on top of his head. He had his hand, balled into a fist, in the air, readying himself to knock for a second time.

"I see you're ready, friend." Hank said. Piotr smiled, the idea of already having made a friend excited him. He was shy and slightly awkward; therefore making friends was no easy feat, even in Russia.

After training he had to get his schedule from the local high school. Unlike the younger students, who had classes at the mansion, he had to go to the high school to take classes, considering the mansion didn't offer many of the classes Piotr had to have to graduate. He had to be alone in a big school in a new place, it scared him, and the thought made him want to leave, go back to Russia and finish school there on the collective. The only town near enough to the collective that he lived on in Russia was a six hour drive; there was no way for him to get to a school, so he didn't. His parents, and the other workers on the collective, hired a special teacher for him and his siblings, as well as the other children there.

A collective is a farm, but not for only one family. Most collectives had around seven or eight families living there at once. It's a hard life, living with people that you aren't related to, but it's not like it's all in one house. Collectives are huge, that's why it takes so many families to run them.

He followed Hank to an elevator, it was the only way into the subbasement. Piotr hadn't been down there yet, but he had to train in the danger room. He wasn't sure what it was, but the name alone scared him.

Hank stopped in front of a silver door, in a silver hallway, on a silver, very reflective floor. The hallway was so big that everything echoed. Hank spoke, but Piotr didn't hear him, he was so focused on the idea of this tech-basement/lab underneath a huge, grand _old_ mansion.

"Piotr?" Hank asked, he heard his name repeated through the hallway multiple times. Piotr looked up at Hank, his eyes had a stern look, as if to say "look and listen."

"Logan is waiting for you in here, I'll be here today, but from now on you'll have to come on your own." He said, the echoes were so loud and intense that the words jumbled together, creating a different sound completely. Piotr didn't know what to think of this, he couldn't force his mind to swerve around all the echoes to find what Hank was really saying, therefore he simply nodded and followed, instead of straining his brain trying to figure out what he'd just heard.

Hank stepped past the automatic, silver door, to another silver room. It was small and the only echoes were the footsteps on the linoleum. In front of Piotr was a _huge_ window, below it was a control panel, with far too many buttons to remember which one did what without some sort of cheat sheet. Most of the buttons were black, but there were colorful ones too, and some even lit up. There were a few levers and some of the buttons had words on them, like "start," "level," and "scene."

_Stsena *? _Piotr thought. He pushed the thought away, it didn't matter. He looked at Logan, who was sitting in a small chair near a monitor that was installed inside the control panel, on the screen he saw the room below them, but on a bigger scale and at different angles. Logan looked back at Piotr and smiled, it wasn't a very pleasant smile. Piotr's nerves soared.

"Peter?" Logan asked. Piotr opened his mouth to speak, but he was quickly cut off. He didn't want his name to be Americanized, he liked it the way it was. At this point it didn't look like he had a choice.

"Okay, let's see what yer made of." Logan said, Piotr looked up, confused. He still wasn't sure what sarcasm was and what some of the English says were.

"It's just a sayin' bub." Logan said, the way he spoke wasn't very clear and it confused Piotr, he was still having problems getting used to English.

Piotr followed Hank to the door to the real danger room, what they were just in was the Control Room. They entered the room and Hank walked back into the Control Room but not before saying "udachi**"to Piotr.

"Okay, we just want to test your skills a bit, it won't be long." Logan said, through a microphone in the Control Room, Piotr strained his neck to look up to him, this was odd; because Piotr was so used to looking down to see someone. He hated talking to someone without looking them in the eyes, but with Logan he was too scared to do it anyway, for a short man he was mean, or so he'd heard.

"Just fight until all the sentries are gone okay?" Logan asked, pushing a button. Nothing happened, Piotr waited and he looked up seeing Logan was talking to Hank, he seemed almost frantic, but in an indifferent sort of way. After a few short moments the machine was fixed.

"Welcome to the X-Men training program, level: 1, droids: 25. You have 15 minutes to complete the task, please begin." A female, robotic voice said, as if told to do so. Suddenly two robots, the size of a normal human appeared before him. He destroyed them without even changing.

After a few seconds five robots came at him, he destroyed three without thinking, but the other two were a little harder, but he still got them. He thought about it, his math wasn't great but so far he'd counted 7 out of 25.

The next group was different, they had lasers! Piotr didn't dodge well, because of his size. There were three of these, which made 10 total, he still didn't change, destroyed them relatively easily, but they were more difficult than the others.

The next group was five robots, they still had lasers, and finally Piotr changed. He watched as the ground shrunk even farther away than it originally was, he looked at his arms they changed so quickly that most people couldn't see the process, but Piotr could feel it. The cool metal rushed across his arms, and then over his torso, doubling his size, finally his legs were covered. His shirt, which was already too tight, no longer existed; all that was left was the collar and the shreds hanging from his stomach.

He destroyed the robots much faster, he hadn't been counting the time, but at this point he'd only gone through six of his 15 minutes. The last group, of ten robots, was sent, these were bigger and equipped with better weapons and sensory bars that would help it dodge attacks, too bad Piotr's speed wasn't enhanced with his transformation, but his endurance was. The bullets from the guns just bounced off of him. He shredded two of them, but the others toppled him. When he pushed them off three of them were destroyed, hitting the walls and ceiling. He grabbed one and tossed it at another, shattering both of them. There were only three left, and what he didn't know was that he still had eight minutes left. He smashed in the head of one of the robots and then he tore the other two apart.

The trial was over and Piotr, who was now officially Peter, was sent to his room to change. On the way he bumped into a girl with curly brown hair. She looked like she'd gotten a bad perm, but Peter didn't say anything.

"Oh sorry." She said. She looked up at him to see that he was extremely tall, and barely wearing a shirt, her mouth dropped open, and she stared for a minute.

"Hi, my name is Kitty." She said, Peter thought. In Russian "kitty" is said "katya." He'd wondered if she'd let him call her that, but he didn't ask, he was too shy. She was pretty, she wasn't very tall, and she was extremely thin. Her eyes were hazel and she seemed so warm. He smiled at her, then she smiled back, which caused his face to get hot, he knew he was blushing, he was always blushing.

"I'm Pio-Peter." He said, trying to remember that Peter was easier for people to say here. She gave him a look and chuckled, he blushed deeper.

"You should probably go get a shirt on sexy." Kitty said, Peter felt his face go ever hotter. No one had ever called him that, he didn't know enough girls for them to say that to him. He walked toward his room, not knowing what to say or do.

In his room he pulled another black tee shirt out of his closet, again measuring it to his chest, he saw himself in the wall length mirror, the scars on his chest were worse than the ones on his arms, you could see them better. He'd been beaten and bruised while farming, be it equipment or the animals. He finally put the shirt on and left to meet up with Hank in the living area on the ground floor. He left his room and walked toward the stairs, finally meeting Hank.

They sat in the dark brown cushioned chairs, waiting for the secretary to help them. She was talking on the phone, very likely it was an upset parent. She argued for a while longer and finally put the receiver back on its stand. She looked up and smiled.

"How may I help you?" She asked. Hank, who was wearing an image inducer to change his appearance to a much more normal one, answered, telling the woman that he needed a copy of Peter's schedule. She typed in some stuff, clicked twice, typed again and clicked one more time.

"It will print out right there." She said pointing, the phone rang and she answered it, the argument continued, probably the same parent that she was talking to before. Hank and Peter decided to just leave, so they did.

They sat in the car, Peter didn't have an American driver's license, so he couldn't drive here yet, but he didn't mind that so much. He read over his schedule, very slowly, he still had problems reading and writing in English, but he could do it.

"Hank, what is Oral Communications?" He asked, Hank chuckled, he then proceeded to explain oral communications, but Peter found it unsettling. He told him that it was a class in which the students had to deliver speeches to the other students in the class. Peter was shy, he wouldn't be able to speak in front of that many people.

"Well maybe you'll have a small class." Hank said, not helping at all. On top of Oral Communications Peter had algebra 2, English, art, United States history, chemistry, and two Spanish classes.

"Why do I have two classes of Spanish?" He asked, his grammar could use some work, but he was getting better.

"You have to have two foreign language classes and Spanish is the only one offered." Hank said, Peter didn't seem very happy, he knew he wasn't going to do well in school. He tried to think about something else, but he couldn't get it out of his head. He only had one more day before he had to go to the school and he was nervous. He didn't want to be alone, not so soon after he arrived.

When he returned to the mansion he went to his room and laid down on the bed, thinking about school was wearing him out. He decided that the best way to pass the time would be to study for his legalization exam, so he did. Eventually he drifted to sleep, he was going to make the best of his time here, and maybe soon he would finally get to call this place his home.

*Stsena-Russian for scene, he's asking what it means by scene (which is the button if you don't remember!)

**Udachi-Russian for good luck, or just luck, but in this case it's good luck.

Notes:

Okay guys, sorry it took so long to post, BAD writers block! :D So hopefully I'll have the next chapter up next week, but that doesn't mean I will. I just winged this story…. I'm sorry if doesn't live up to the first one (which was FANTASTIC!). I have a cover for it now, hopefully it will be posted soon. I drew it myself guys! I'm proud, I gotz myself a sexy Piotr.

I would really like some ideas about future chapters and stuff, because I'm not really sure where to go now, I'm sure the next chapter will be about the Legalization test and the fourth will be his first day at school. Pretty soon he and Kitty will get together. I changed the tags too! Thanx for the feedback, please keep it coming cuz I really need the help, if you want it to keep going please tell me want you think!

I took Jean-Paul out, replaced it with Kitty. I also took someone's advice and made it strictly Peter's perspective. Okay, so I'll try to have the next one up next week and we'll go on from there. PEACE! :D


	3. Chapter 3

Steel Ultimatum

An X-Men Fan Fiction

Chapter 3: Naturalization

The boy was rustling around in his closet. That morning Jean decided that she would take him shopping, not only for clothes but school supplies as well. He was possibly too organized, the way he looked people probably wouldn't think so. They'd gotten him enough clothes to nearly fill up the small closet, he didn't care about clothes too much, but Jean thought it was important. Jean told him that he would need something nice, for the parties they went to sometimes or a job interview or something. He'd also gotten something more comfortable to train in, namely some big sweat pants and a wife beater.

At the moment he didn't have a shirt on, because he was going to change, he didn't want to wear an "X-Men" shirt to his test, it probably wouldn't go over well, or at least that's what Jean told him. At home everyone loved his powers, they helped a lot, but in America mutants were bad guys, even if they saved people. It confused Peter, but he simply ignored it.

There was a knock at the door, Peter felt odd about opening his door for a guest when he didn't have a shirt on, but he did it anyway. At the door stood a blue man, he hadn't talked to him yet, but according to Hank his name was Kurt.

"Hallo." He said, his accent was thick, to most people it'd be easy to understand, but Peter had problems listening through other people's accents, due to having a thick one himself. He had to think harder when talking to Kurt, but he didn't mind it.

"Hi." He said, Kurt asked him if he could come in. He wanted to talk about the test he had to take. Kurt had already taken it and wanted to give him some tips. They were going to have a practice test in a sense.

"How much has Jean told you about it?" Kurt asked. Jean hadn't told him anything, she'd never taken it so she didn't really know, Hank gave him the study guide, but that was it.

Kurt told him a lot about the test, it was oral, which bothered Peter, because he was shy. The test consisted of 100 questions, and four of them related directly to New York. Peter was worried, he didn't know that much about America, but he would be okay, Kurt reassured.

Kurt left shortly after, he just wanted to help out as much as he could, but it was getting too close to time for Peter to leave, so he had to get ready. He put on a white, tight, tee shirt and regular blue jeans, he didn't have to look nice, but there was no way he was going to wear sweat pants.

_Knock, knock._ He turned back to the door, fully dressed this time, and opened it. Jean was standing in front of him, she was going to take him to take his test. He didn't mind, he was sick of looking at Hank all the time anyway. He followed her to the front door and they stepped outside. He loved the outside of the mansion, the walls were made of faded bricks and vines. The building looked so old, but when Jean told him that it was made to look that way, due to the massive number of times it had been destroyed by an enemy or even one of the X-Men by accident. He thought that it was funny that someone would lose control of their to the point of completely obliterating their home.

They walked to the small car, Peter looked up at Jean, she looked down. Noticing that the car may be too small, she walked back into the mansion, leaving Peter alone for a few minutes. He was thinking over ways to get into the car if he had to, but nothing came to mind, he knew that if he tried he might not get out with the car still intact.

Jean came back out, and walked to a large van, Peter breathed a sigh of relief. He followed her to the van and they got in it. He could fit, comfortably. She didn't mention who it belonged to, but the key was alone, nothing else on the chain.

"I feel bad for using this van." She said, but didn't dare explain herself. Peter sat back, slightly confused, he had to pull the seat back in order for his legs to fit, but that didn't bother Jean, she smiled and turned the key.

They had finally gotten to a building, but it wasn't where they were supposed to go. It was a driving school of sorts, but Peter didn't need a driving school, he had a license in Russia, he didn't have to re-learn to drive.

"You brought your license didn't you?" Jean asked, Peter nodded, he was told the day before that he needed to bring it, he thought it was for identification. He was wrong. Apparently if you had a driver's license from another state or country you could get it renewed here, by simply giving it to them. They walked into the building, there was a pudgy man behind the counter, smiling at everyone. He was a very happy man, that made Peter slightly more comfortable.

"Hello, how may I help you?" The man said, his voice was squeaky, it surprised Peter, but he didn't show it on his face. Jean talked to the man for a while, Peter simply ignored it, he was looking around at all the people. He'd been driving since he was twelve, of course that was mostly around the collective.

"Okay, can I see your license?" The man asked, Peter looked back, after a few moments he realized that the man was talking to him. He handed him the license and the man clicked a few things and typed some stuff in, after a few minutes Peter was told to stand in a corner for the picture. He did as he was told and was finally given the new license. They left the building and got back in the van, this time Jean told Peter he could drive.

Peter was a very good driver, he didn't swerve around or anything, the ride was smooth and when Jean told him to turn somewhere he didn't almost flip them over. They parked in the lot of a large building; it looked new, as if it was only built in the last five years.

"I want you to show your Russian license when they ask, because you technically can't get your license renewed until after you've been a naturalized citizen." Peter understood and did just that. They entered the building, it was cold inside, but he loved it. It reminded him of home. He followed Jean to the front desk, the woman behind the counter looked as if she'd rather die than be here. There was a girl behind them, she was looking at Peter, and no doubt it was because of his size.

He felt a slight poke on his back, when he turned around the girl looked up at him, with a big smile. She was pretty, she was very pretty.

"Um, how tall are you?" She asked, she had a familiar accent, she was Russian. Peter hadn't seen other Russian person in a while, even though it'd only been five days he'd felt like seeing another Russian was like being home again.

"I'm 6'6"." He answered. She smiled when she heard him talk, she knew he was Russian too.

"Are you from Russia?" She asked, he answered in Russian. They had a short-lived conversation, only to the point of finding out each other's names. Hers was Anya. He thought she was beautiful, she'd asked him if he was busy the next weekend, he told her he wasn't sure. She grabbed a paper and scribbled something down right before he went to the back to take his test. She handed it to him, it was a phone number at the bottom was her name and the words "call me" written in Russian.

He smiled as he looked back, he had to go into the room by himself, he didn't realize until he closed the door that he was extremely nervous. There was a woman in the back, she was smiling at him, beckoning for him to come to her, she was the person who was giving the test. She asked if he preferred oral or written.

"Um, how does the written test look?" He asked, he didn't necessarily want to talk to anyone he didn't really know. She showed him a copy. When he saw the first four were the only questions that he had to really write on, he decided to take the written test. It would be easier for him.

He looked at the questions, the first four were really easy, and he'd actually watched the news recently. He worked really hard to study for the test, but he wasn't sure about all of the questions.

Name one New York Senator: The first question was easy for him to answer, the only problem was spelling the guys last name. Charles Schumer.

Name the New York Representative: Tim Bishop

Name the New York Governor: This guy's last name was another hard thing to Peter to remember but eventually he'd just guessed at the spelling. Andrew Cuomo

What is the capital of New York: Albany

The rest of the test was simple questions, they were oral, so that once you say an answer you can't take it back, after she went over the first four written on the paper, she looked over what she had written while giving Peter the test. He was very worried about his results. After a few minutes the woman looked up, she smiled. That was a good sign. Right?

"You made an 84, you've passed. Here." She said, handing him a paper, it had his answers and her remarks on it, at the top in bright red ink was written "84%." She told him to give it to the woman at the front desk and she'd have him legalized. He did just that, and soon enough he was a legal United States citizen. He felt much better, Jean drove home, she asked if he wanted to, he was still shaking from the test, therefore he declined.

They parked in the yard, she took the keys out of the ignition and handed them to Peter. He was confused, he didn't understand why she gave them to him. He got out of the car and walked toward Jean.

"Um, I don't think this is mine." He said, holding the key outward toward Jean.

"It is. It's your van." She said. He was honestly surprised. They'd bought him a van, they thought about him enough to get him a vehicle he could fit into. He smiled at her, thanking her.

Sometime after the Professor wheeled outside, just as they were coming in, he smiled at Peter and told him that he needed to see for a moment. He followed the Professor to his small, white office. He sat down in the same chair he did before, but only because there was a Hank in the other chair.

"I want to offer you a job." The Professor said, getting to business. He was just that type of man. Peter looked at Hank, who nodded, that was his way of saying take it. Of course Peter asked what the job was, he wasn't going to accept unless he knew.

"I want you to work the front desk, in the room just outside of my office. If someone calls or needs to talk to me they'll talk to you first. You'll be like the school's secretary." The Professor said. Peter enjoyed organizing things, and when he had nothing to do he could draw, but he still had to go to school.

"I know Peter, it will only be on the weekends from eight to 4:30 and on weekdays from three to 4:30. I know it isn't much, but it will help you get things you want. I know you don't like it when people buy things for you." What he said was true, he didn't like people spending money on him, it made him feel like he was using them. After a brief talk with Hank, he accepted. It wouldn't be too much work and he could get homework done while he was waiting anyway.

Peter followed Hank out, he paused for a second and looked at the large room. The Professor's office was behind them, to their right was the door to the main hallway, to the left was another door, to the class room. In the center of the room sat a small desk with a computer and a phone, that was Peter's desk, behind it stood a filing cabinet, it wasn't very big.

He walked to his bedroom. He took a look around, today was his last day before he had to go to school, but now he was a citizen and could drive to school himself. He smiled, seeing the painting in front of his bed, it was coming along nicely, he had the background painted and was working on the farm house at the moment. He got his art supplies and continued on his painting, hopefully by the end of the week he would have it finished.

He stood back, to take a good look at the picture, putting his hands in his pockets. He felt a paper and pulled it out. He looked at it, numbers. Anya's phone number, he forgot to call her. He looked at his alarm clock, it was almost midnight, he couldn't worry about her now, he had to go to bed, but not before taking a shower. His face and arms were covered in reds and greens, he looked like a Christmas tree, he thought. He walked quietly out of his room, hoping not to wake anyone up, and crept into the bathroom. After a quick shower he got out and put on his pajama pants, he left the room and silently snuck back into his. He collected his school stuff, laid it on his side table, so that he wouldn't forget it. He laid down on his bed, snuggled and fell asleep rather quickly.

Sometime during the night he woke up, covered in sweat. He sat up, pulled in his knees and put his head on them. His body was aching, mostly his legs, he knew what it was, but he didn't care, all he could think about was the heat. That was the worst part, every time this happened the heat was dreadful. He sat back and took long, deep breaths, hoping to cool down, he didn't. He stood up and opened the small door that led to a balcony; he stepped out and sat on the ground. The cool air felt nice, but he was still sweating. It was hot, he sat still for a while and when he noticed the sun coming up he decided to go back inside. He sat down on the floor in the corner of his room, but finally he had cooled off. His alarm went off, which meant that it was 6:30. He stood up and turned it off, he walked over to his closet, and he figured he might as well get ready.

He pulled out a white tee shirt from the closet, he tried it on while he was at the mall, but when he tried to put in on now it didn't fit right. It was too tight and eventually it just ripped. He tossed the remaining shreds to the floor and sat down on his bed. He didn't think that he'd grow too big for his clothes overnight.

There was a knock, he opened the door and told Jean about what had happened. They talked to Hank shortly thereafter. He told them that Peter was having a secondary mutation, and that it would eventually stop, when Peter asked him when, he had no answer.

Peter was told he could skip school while Jean got him some more clothes, in multiple sizes, so that he wouldn't have to skip again if he grew. He didn't really care about the clothes, but he felt bad that he had to miss his first day, but at least he could work on his painting for the day, maybe even use their gym to work out for a while. He always seemed to have energy to burn.

He was supposed to start work today, but the Professor told him he didn't have to because of the lack of sleep he got during the night. He didn't really paint or work out that much during the day, because when he got the chance he went to his room and fell quickly asleep, this time uninterrupted. He didn't hear Jean come into his room with his new clothes, she sat the bag down next to the closet door. She left quickly and quietly. He dreamt of his home, of his family and friends. It was a good sleep, hopefully the next day would be good too.

NOTES:

No Russian in this one guys (that's strange). I know this one was short and kinda not good. So the next post will NOT be an actual story, more like and info thing. I'll do this every once in a while. The first will obviously be Peter. Hope you like it. I'm thinking the relationship with Kitty may be postponed for a little longer, he's gonna have the fling with Anya and then go on his first mission first. I'm sure that they'll get there, hopefully she'll be in it again soon. And I really need to get into the friendship between Peter, Logan, and Kurt. I'm working on chapter 4 and the info, they'll be posted pretty soon.

If you guys have any ideas I'll read 'em and see what I can do. Thanks to the fans, you're the only reason I'm still writing this! :D I'm trying to tie Bobby and Jono in it pretty soon and enter Remy and Rogue. If you have any characters you wanna see I'm open to anything. XD


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